A bow that is too heavy for the archer encourages the yips
1 study · 58 archers measured
The summary today
The only study to have looked at the draw weight of people with the yips comes from kyudo: fifty-eight Japanese university students, forty-one of whom have had them. At first sight those who have had them shoot a heavier bow in absolute terms, 13.4 kg against 11.2 (p = 0.004), but they have practised for longer and hit far more often. Draw weight divided by hit rate, which the authors use precisely to judge whether a bow suits the archer's technique, points the opposite way to the claim: 0.47 kg per percentage point in those who have had the yips against 0.70 in the others (p = 0.008), meaning a bow less out of proportion. Relative to body weight the difference, 0.231 against 0.208, does not reach significance (p = 0.064). In the model that accounts for years of practice neither draw weight nor its ratios stay linked to the yips. It is a cross-sectional study, in kyudo, with the question answered from memory: it says no overly heavy bow shows up behind the yips, not that one could never matter.
Also phrased as: "overbowed"; "too much draw weight"; "draw weight and target panic"; "moving up in poundage too soon"; "bow too heavy for the archer"
In practice
Moving up in draw weight too soon is said to be the shortest road to target panic: a bow you cannot hold forces you to let go the moment you reach anchor, and the cure is to go back to a lighter one.
Evidence
-
2021
Against Kyudo archers Published later
58 students from the kyudo clubs of two Japanese medical faculties (41 with the yips, 17 without): draw weight divided by hit rate, which the authors put forward as an index of how well the bow suits the archer's technique, is 0.473 ± 0.289 in those who have had the yips against 0.696 ± 0.324 in the others (p = 0.008), meaning a bow less out of proportion, not more. In the logistic regression that includes years of practice the index does not remain significant (p = 0.400, with a confidence interval from 0.026 to 9,794 that shows how imprecise the estimate is).
Yips in Kyudo (Japanese archery): prevalence, classification, and aggravating factors · Seiichiro Nishio, Yuichi Hayashi, Shinei Kato, Yoya Ono, Masahiro Waza, Yoichiro Nagao, Akihiro Mukaino, Shunya Nakane, Takayoshi Shimohata
-
2021
Context Kyudo archers Published later
In the same sample those who have had the yips shoot a heavier bow in absolute terms, 13.4 ± 2.7 kg against 11.2 ± 1.7 (p = 0.004), but they have practised for longer and hit more often, 36.2 against 17.5 per cent; relative to body weight draw weight is 0.231 ± 0.042 against 0.208 ± 0.034 (p = 0.064). In the multivariate model absolute draw weight does not stay linked to the yips (OR 0.784, 95% CI 0.401 to 1.534, p = 0.478).
Yips in Kyudo (Japanese archery): prevalence, classification, and aggravating factors · Seiichiro Nishio, Yuichi Hayashi, Shinei Kato, Yoya Ono, Masahiro Waza, Yoichiro Nagao, Akihiro Mukaino, Shunya Nakane, Takayoshi Shimohata
Status history
- 1990 Not studied That an overly heavy bow leads to release problems circulates in practice, but in the registry's bibliography nobody had yet compared the draw weight of people with the yips against that of everyone else.
- 2021 Contradicted The first and only study arrives, on fifty-eight Japanese university kyudo students. Those who have had the yips shoot a heavier bow in absolute terms, 13.4 kg against 11.2, but have practised for longer and hit far more often; relative to their hits their bow is actually lighter, 0.47 kg per percentage point against 0.70 (p = 0.008), and relative to body weight the difference is not significant (p = 0.064). In the model that accounts for years of practice neither draw weight nor its ratio to hits stays linked to the yips. A single study, in kyudo, and what it finds goes against the claim: contradicted.
Related
Related articles
- Target panic in archery: what it is and how to manage itTarget panic in archery: what it is, its three forms, how common it is and which remedies help, with the weight each one carries in the studies.
- The arrow goes by itself: yips and premature release in archeryEarly release as the studies see it: how archers describe it, how common it is in kyudo, how many get over it and why it differs from the release block.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). A bow that is too heavy for the archer encourages the yips (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/overbowed-archer-yips
@misc{campagna2026_arcoduroyips,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {A bow that is too heavy for the archer encourages the yips},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/overbowed-archer-yips},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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